Cities are increasingly becoming the fundamental units for social and economic organisation. Despite their familiarity, city leaders continue to struggle to create long-term solutions to many of their problems, such as traffic, pollution, inclusive growth and economic vitality.

Professor Luis Bettencourt will discuss the dynamics that create and sustain cities, illustrated by extensive data from cities around the world. This would include the central role of inclusive, self-organising social and economic networks in creating prosperous cities as well as the enabling role of urban services, infrastructure and governance. The lecture will also provide insights into designing more effective urban policy and new urban technologies, as well as some speculations about the future of cities, including the role of big data and future technologies in creating more liveable cities, managing future population growth and loss, and cities’ impact on human development.

Speaker:
		Professor Luis BETTENCOURT Professor of Complex Systems Santa Fe Institute Luis was trained as a theoretical physicist, and has worked extensively on cities and urbanization. His research emphasizes the creation of new interdisciplinary synthesis to describe cities in quantitative and predicative ways, informed by the growing availability of empirical data worldwide. His research interests also include the modelling of innovation and sustainability in developing human societies, the dynamics of infectious diseases and aspects of general information processing in complex systems. He has authored over 100 scientific papers and several edited books, and also regularly reviews papers for leading journals in Interdisciplinary Science, Physics, Urban Studies, Neuroscience, Epidemiology, Computer Science and Applied Mathematics.

The City: Past, Present and Future

14 September 2015 | 3:00– 5:00pm | MND Function Hall

Networking & Registration from 3:00pm (Guests to be seated by 3:30pm)

Free Admission Prior registration required here